Houses, buildings and mosques in Marawi City lie in ruins a year after government troops took back the Islamic city from the ISIS-inspired Maute terrorist group. INQUIRER FILE / JEOFFREY MAITEM
An international organization is calling for the urgent passage of a Senate bill that seeks to provide monetary compensation to residents who lost their homes and other private properties to the Marawi siege last year.
Francisco Lara, senior adviser of International Alert Philippines, said the enactment of Senate Bill No. 1816 or the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act of 2018 would help hasten the rebuilding of the war-torn Islamic city and help mend the wounds created by the conflict.
“It’s very important. It’s very important in terms of healing wounds created by the war in Marawi,” Lara said in a statement.
“It’s unfair that a compensation bill is taking this long to pass. This is the only thing the victims have to look forward to,” he added.
In filing the proposed measure on May 22, 2018, Senator Bam Aquino pointed out that the monetary aid would give Marawi residents means to immediately recover from the damage and destruction to their homes and private property.
“Sa ngayon, wala pang paraan upang mabigyan sila ng tulong mula sa gobyerno na katumbas ng kanilang personal na ari-arian na nawala at nasira sa bakbakan,” Aquino said in a statement.
“Ang tulong na ito’y isang hakbang upang masiguro ang kapayapaan at ang daan tungo sa kasaganaan sa Marawi at sa buong bayan,” he added.
Aquino noted that based on earlier computation by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the rehabilitation of Marawi City will come with a tag price of around P51.7 billion.
The senator, a member of the Senate special committee on Marawi City rehabilitation, filed Resolution No. 661 last February 26, asking the panel to look into the government’s moral and ethical obligation to provide financial assistance and support to victims of the siege. However, he said his resolution was not acted upon.
On May 23, 2017, the ISIS-inspired Maute group attacked the Islamic city in Mindanao, destroying public infrastructure, private properties, livelihood sources, and displacing thousands of Marawi residents from their homes.
After government forces regained control of the city and killed known international terrorist Isnilon Hapilon and Omar Maute, the administration declared the city liberated from terror forces on Oct. 17, 2017. /cbb